Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer (LGBQ) Youth in the Child Welfare System: Hope, Well-Being, and Future Expectations

Lepper-Pappan, Heather

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer (LGBQ) Youth in the Child Welfare System: Hope, Well-Being, and Future Expectations

dc.contributor.advisor	Maher, Erin
dc.contributor.author	Lepper-Pappan, Heather
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Hope, Trina
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Gerlinger, Julie
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Pharris, Angela
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-30T18:06:34Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-30T18:06:34Z
dc.date.issued	2024-05-10
dc.date.manuscript	2024-04-29
dc.description.abstract	The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the experiences of an often invisible and understudied population within child welfare, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) youth. Specifically, this research explores support from caregivers, peers, and caseworkers to examine how they influence well-being among LGBQ youth who have been involved in the child welfare system. My analyses use standard statistical methods from a nationally representative data set of youth in the child welfare system and data from the state of Oklahoma. Chapter Two explores how sexual orientation and the quality of the relationship with the youth’s caregiver influences their internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. I find that for LGBQ youth, as the quality of their relationship with their caregiver increases, so too do their reported behavioral problems. I hypothesize why this might be the case. Chapter Three examines the future expectations for LGBQ and non-LGBQ youth, and results showed that caregiver and peer support influence these expectations, in positive and negative ways. Chapter Four looks at LGB youth placed in foster care within the state of Oklahoma and their levels of hope in their child welfare caseworker. My co-authors and I found that LGB youth who have experienced severe adverse childhood experiences (ACES) had greater hope in their caseworker. I conclude by discussing the implications of this research and how policies and programs could be developed, implemented, or improved to help this vulnerable population.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/11244/340254
dc.language	en_US	en_US
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	*
dc.subject	sociology	en_US
dc.subject	child welfare	en_US
dc.subject	LGBQ	en_US
dc.subject	well-being	en_US
dc.thesis.degree	Ph.D.	en_US
dc.title	Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer (LGBQ) Youth in the Child Welfare System: Hope, Well-Being, and Future Expectations	en_US
ou.group	Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences::Department of Sociology	en_US
shareok.orcid	0009-0000-0503-9754	en_US